From Goodreads.com: "The Man Without a Face
is the chilling account of how a low- level, small-minded KGB operative
ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time,
destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to
her own people and to the world.Handpicked as a successor by the
"family" surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin,
Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape
according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the
shadows, dreaming of ruling the world, was a public figure, and his
popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see
the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of
media, sent political rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and
smashed the country's fragile electoral system, concentrating power in
the hands of his cronies.As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and for The Man Without a Face
she has drawn on information and sources no other writer has tapped.
Her account of how a "faceless" man maneuvered his way into absolute-and
absolutely corrupt-power has the makings of a classic of narrative
nonfiction."

My Two Cents:

Vladimir
Putin is sort of an enigma. It's hard to know what to make of him. Who
is he? What is his background? How did this person who rose from the
bottom of the KGB come to be such a long term fixture in Russian
politics? This book looks at all this and more. Told from the
perspective of a journalist (Masha Gessen), the book brings together the
personalities and the events of recent Russian history.

I didn't
know much about Putin at all before listening to this book except for
the fact that first he was Prime Minister of Russia and then he stepped
aside for Dmitri Medvedyev, only to come back as Prime Minister fairly
recently. In Political Science terms, this would be looked at as an
observation in how Russia isn't quite fully democratic and may be
sliding backwards in the political freedom department.

The book
recounts Putin's early biography from his childhood to his career as a
KGB operative to his political rise through his controversial political
career all against the backdrop of a vastly and quickly changing
country. It was interesting to see how just being in the "right place at
the right time" contributed to his rise. A lot of his background I
didn't know. He was sort of a weird guy, just sort of off kilter and I
thought it was really interesting to see that.

Some parts of the
book were very hard to listen to. There were many political gaffes where
people's lives hung in the balance and yet no action was taken (the
Kursk (sp?) submarine issue, the Chechen school issue, the taking of the
Moscow theater). I had forgotten about a lot of these events and how
Putin handled or did not handle the books. It was sort of crazy to see
how by trying to make himself look good, Putin would step on anyone that
was in his way.

I feel like this book gave me a much better
insight into why Russian politics and Russia itself are the way that
they are. So much of Russia's recent history has been entangled with one
man, that being Putin.

The audiobook version of this book is
great. The narrator did a good job with all of the different accents of
the people in the book.

I've always been interested in Putin and have followed his... interesting travel thought politics over the past few years. I'm gonna have to put a request for this one in the library-- learning someone's past can definitely explain a lot of their present.

My Badges

About Me

I have always loved to read. I decided to get into book blogging to share the books I love with other fellow readers! For any questions, comments, concerns or just to chat, shoot me an email at abookishaffair(at)gmail(dot)com ! I usually respond to emails quickly!
All opinions on this blog are my own, regardless of where I got the book!